Maziacs is an action adventure maze video game published by dk'tronics

DK'Tronics

dk'tronics were a software and hardware company during the 1980s. They primarily made peripherals for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC but also released video games for the Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore Vic 20, BBC Micro, Memotech, MSX and Amstrad platforms....

 in 1983

1983 in video gaming

-Events:* A major shakeout of the video game industry begins. By 1986, total video games sales will decrease from US$3.2 billion to US$0.1 billion.* MCA Universal files suit against Nintendo, claiming that the latter company's video arcade hit Donkey Kong violated Universal's copyright on King Kong...

 for the ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

, Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 and MSX

MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...

.

History

Maziacs, written by Don Priestley

Don Priestley

Don Priestley is a video game programmer who wrote for the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum between 1982 and 1989.-Background:Until 1979, Don Priestley was a teacher. In 1981 both he and his son enrolled in a Pascal course at night school. Although his son dropped out, Don carried on...

, was based on his earlier ZX81 game Mazogs which was published by Bug Byte in 1982

1982 in video gaming

-Events:* December 27 - Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.-Notable releases:*October 13 - Mystique releases the Custer's Revenge adult video game for the Atari 2600 home console....

. Mazogs was one of the most successful ZX81 games so Don Priestley adapted it for the higher-resolution, colour-screen ZX Spectrum and MSX. The Commodore 64 port was written by Andy French. In 1987, Dietrich Raisin developed a version of Maziacs for the Atari ST in Omikron BASIC and released it as Public Domain software. The gameplay of this port was identical to the original version, but the graphics were newly designed.

Gameplay

Maziacs takes place in a randomly-generated, scrolling, overhead-view maze, in which the player-controlled protagonist must find gold and exit the level. The gold is placed at least 200 moves from the start position, and the maze is patrolled by monsters called maziacs. Prisoners are sometimes found in the walls of the maze, who can highlight the path to the gold for a short period of time.

A maziac can only be killed effectively with a sword, several of which are found in the maze but can only be used once. A sword cannot be carried at the same time as the gold. These last two factors lead to the tactic of avoiding groups of maziacs, but killing as many as possible before collecting the gold.

The main game screen shows one fiftieth of the maze, but a 'view mode' expands the view to show one twelfth. Whilst this mode is useful for scouting purposes, the player cannot move whilst viewing it.

Moving through the maze and fighting maziacs decreases the player's energy, which can be replenished by finding food.

Maziacs also supported the Currah MicroSpeech

Currah

Currah was a British computer peripheral manufacturer, famous mainly for the speech synthesis cartridges it designed for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and other 8-bit home computers of the 1980s.-Currah μSource for the ZX Spectrum:...

 peripheral.

Critical reaction

When Maziacs was published, critical reception was good. CRASH

CRASH (magazine)

Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...

magazine awarded 82%, highlighting the appealing graphics and animation. In a retrospective later in the year, CRASH criticized the slightly unresponsive keyboard controls and felt it was less addictive, but continued to praise the animation techniques.

Maziacs was ranked at number 99 in the Your Sinclair

Your Sinclair

Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...

official top 100 ZX Spectrum games of all time, due to the game's claustrophobic atmosphere, choreographed animation and general character.